Mourinho's New Mission: Save Italian Soccer

Jose Mourinho might say he's not so special anymore, but he'll have to be something pretty close to that to accomplish his latest mission -- rehabilitating the image of Italian football.

"[We must] make the fans more responsible and change their relationships with the police. In other countries we don't see nice images. We see violence, deaths, fans who are banned from traveling to away games.

"I will never forget that my bench at Chelsea was three metres away from the fans: I could see fathers, sons, women, children, families. There football was without fear ... Whatever the result, life will go on. I would be proud, one day, to have contributed to changing calcio. Why shouldn't things be like this, one day, in Italy too?"

I can think of many reasons why it won't be, starting with the fact that club owners seem to like things the way they are. Plus. the ultras wouldn't have an excuse to get their stabby on when visiting fans who walk down the wrong alley.

I wish Mourinho all the luck in the world in cleaning up Serie A, but he's going to need a ton of help, and I have my doubts that he's going to get it from people who could make a difference. He'll be in for a real shock when he gets his first match result sheet in advance of the matches themselves.